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Haunting of Sharon Tate Trailer: Hilary Duff Has Visions of Manson

Actress Hilary Duff has visions of Charles Manson in the new trailer for The Haunting of Sharon Tate. One-time Hollywood starlet Sharon Tate was one of five people brutally murdered by followers of Manson back in 1969. The murders have since been known as the Tate murders, and kicked off what would be an ongoing examination of one of the most infamous killings ever.

Billed by many as irrefutable proof that the hippie-led 1960s social movements based on peace and love had officially come to a crashing, disastrous end, Manson’s ragtag group of hippie misfits, known as the Manson Family, gained worldwide attention after committing brutal acts of murder on unsuspecting victims. While Manson himself didn’t actually kill anyone during the Tate murders, his terrible reign over his followers led to his own charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. At the time of the slayings, the 26-year-old Tate was a well-known Hollywood starlet, married to famed filmmaker Roman Polanski and eight and a half months pregnant with the couple’s first child.

Moviegoers' first look at Saban Films' “based on true events” horror movie retelling of that shocking night has arrived via their YouTube channel. In The Haunting of Sharon Tate, Duff takes on the role of Tate during the last evening of her life. The Tate murders are depicted here as the brutal events that they were, but writer/director Daniel Farrands (The Amityville Murders) has put a psychological twist on it, attempting to allow viewers to witness the trauma that Tate underwent in the lead up to her murder. Check out the trailer:

The film comes several months before Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywoodis due to arrive, a film that will also deal with the Manson murders. Unlike The Haunting of Sharon Tate, however, Tarantino’s effort is not a horror film, nor does it attempt to retell the tale of Tate. What’s more, this upcoming summer will mark the 50th anniversary of the Manson murders. And with last year’s death of Manson in prison at the age of 83, an entirely new generation is once again being introduced to these horrid and senseless slayings. In addition to Duff, The Haunting of Sharon Tate will also star Lydia Hearst (Z Nation) and Jonathan Bennett (Supergirl), and will be released theatrically on April 5.

As far as horror films go, the tale of Tate certainly has the key elements needed to keep viewers terrified. But to fictionalize an account of an innocent pregnant woman’s death for entertainment purposes seems an exercise in poor taste. Farrands apparently isn’t done exploiting this theme, either. His next film will focus on OJ Simpson’s murdered wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. As it stands, horror fans may find just what they’re looking for with The Haunting of Sharon Tate, but whether it can add more than just textbook gimmicks to a real and tragic incident remains to be seen.